Low and behold the impeller is found to be in two pieces
A pump that has done about 8000 miles..... so annoying...
But... £500 later it should be good for another 8000 miles
I am having issues with a VW TDI engine.
Its been a year since it last threw a wobbly. (Oil cooler split and water pump fail followed by a sticky stat....all were replaced)
This time I am getting some odd symptoms. Long drive over the weekend and all went well until I started making my way home and the engine temp
rocketed and started pishing water out of the top of the header tank. I let it cool and added about 1 litre of water and tried to drive again, under
load the temperature shoots up but on the flat just ticking along the temp comes back down again slowly to normal.
Slightly curious thing is that the heater no-longer works inside. It blows cold air even though the water temp is high enough for both rad fans to
come on.
Couldn't drive it back up the motorway like that so had it towed to a garage who have done a "Sniff test" and tell me the head gasket
is leaking... ok... Believeable but would this really cause the heater to stop working? I am concerned its the stat or the water pump again!?
Hadn't noticed an unusual level of coolant/oil loss recently.....
Any thoughts from the learned massive on here?
Water pump impeller has come off , it will have damaged the thermostat as well . Common problem on VWs, the fact that the heater doesn’t work is because the coolant isn’t circulating.
I’d tend to agree, bloomin livid as having the pump changed isn’t cheap and I had it done a little over a year ago....
Why have the garage diagnoses a head gasket and missed the pump?!
Wouldn't they have fitted the updated pump with the metal impeller though?
I’d have thought so. It was done by an independent specialist who knows his stuff..... bizarrely the first replacement pump failed after a few weeks
and allowed water into the oil. It was changed under warranty for another pump....doesn’t fill me with confidence.
I believe the drive gear was also changed as it had been rubbing on something where the original pump had failed.
So yes, should have had a good quality pump and I changed the stat myself with a genuine vw one.
[Edited on 30/5/19 by tegwin]
Do it yourself, it’s not a difficult job and the cam timing tools are available fairly cheaply.
It’s a bit of a weird engine. All gear driven but you’re right, probably should inspect the pump!
quote:
Originally posted by rusty nuts
Water pump impeller has come off , it will have damaged the thermostat as well . Common problem on VWs, the fact that the heater doesn’t work is because the coolant isn’t circulating.
After the original pump failed I was told they had used an OEM replacement but I have no way of checking what was actually fitted without taking the pump out. I would be very annoyed if they are plastic!!
I’ve had problems with VAG vehicles several times now where the symptoms are overheating when driving and the heater will not blow warm air , every time it has been the impeller causing the problem damaging at least the thermostat . It is possible to test the water pump using a pressure gauge type piece of equipment, I’ve never used one so can’t say how reliable the results are.
Any news
Yes, I took it to the garage and suggested that before they go nuts and pull the head off that they should check the pump..
Low and behold the impeller is found to be in two pieces
A pump that has done about 8000 miles..... so annoying...
But... £500 later it should be good for another 8000 miles